


After the Battle

by mielipieli



Category: Batman (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, im bitter about the league forcing the titans to disband so it's mentioned, titans are in one scene so i didn't want to tag them all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 07:24:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13829316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: Dick is injured in a battle against Brainiac and is in hospital for the aftermath.





	After the Battle

Dick remembered a blur of red and bile rising in his throat through a haze he was sure were drugs and pain. He couldn’t get through to his head. There had been something red. No, not something. Someone. Wally. Wally had brought him here. He was in the hospital. Dick’s mind began drifting off but he forced himself back to reality. 

There were voices around him. Beeping. Why was he so dizzy? He was moving. That was it. He was moving and his sense of balance was all wrong. What… what had happened?

“What…”, he croaked and felt a sharp pain in his chest.

A nurse’s face appeared above him: “Don’t move. Flash brought you here from the battle. We’re prepping you for surgery.”

Battle. There was a battle. Brainiac. Oh, god. He had to go help. 

“The pain’s going to stop in a few moments, honey. Just calm down”, the nurse said with a calm and gentle voice. 

“I need to…”

“There’s nothing you can do if you’re dead.” Her voice had gone harsh and Dick let himself fall back onto the bed. 

He saw a flash of purple in the corner of his eye. Steph. She’d been there, too. When… the bomb. Oh, god. Steph was hurt, too, wasn’t she? Dick craned his neck to the left and felt a wave of nausea. 

“Hold still”, the nurse berated him. “You apparently shielded Batgirl from the worst of the blast. You’re in much worse condition and it’s not going to get better if you don’t let us do our job.” She sighed. “We’re going to move you now. This will hurt.”

Dick nodded, thankful for her honesty. This wasn’t really what most patients would want their nurses to tell them but this one might have worked with superheroes before. If the entire superhero community had in common, it might have been an appreciation of honesty about pain.

Dick clenched his teeth and passed out. 

\-------------

Dick woke up in a white room. It took him a moment to remember why that made sense. There was an oxygen mask on his face and the steady beeping of a heart monitor. Next to him, in the corner of his eyes, was an IV bag. His eyes wouldn’t allow him to read the label. Might be Morphine though. He was feeling surprisingly little pain. 

He tried to push himself up to look around but pain flared up in his chest and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He pressed the button to call a nurse. There were hurried steps and a door opened. There was a face above him that looked him over for a few seconds.

“Come on, honey. Breathe in. And out. In. And out.”

Dick kept his eyes on the nurse and followed the instructions as best he could. 

When she was confident in his ability to breathe, the nurse asked: “How are you feeling, honey? Do you want some more morphine?”

Ha, he’d been right. Dick nodded diligently. When the nurse was finished changing something about the settings, he spoke: “Cou…” Well, tried to speak. He decided to go for the easy version: “Up?”

“I can prop you up a bit but we don’t want to exhaust your body, right?”

Dick understood. He ‘helped’ the nurse by not resisting. God, he was feeling weak. 

“Anything else?”

Dick shook his head. He was probably going to fall asleep again in a few minutes.

\-------------

The next time he woke up, there was purple in the corner of his eyes. Dick turned his head and saw Steph sleep in a chair. Her leg was in a cast and her arms were wrapped in gauze but she was alright. Dick smiled to himself and took a deep breath. There was pain in his chest but not enough to make him lose control over his breathing again. Just enough to make him groan a bit.

Steph’s head shot up and she looked around in a panic. When she saw Dick, she relaxed: “How are you feeling?”, she asked softly.

“Meh”, Dick said. It came out as a long suffering sigh. 

“That good?”, Steph laughed. “Do you want me to get you some ice chips?”

Dick smiled thankfully. He probably shouldn’t try to speak again before he’d had some of those. 

\------------

While Steph was feeding him one ice chip after the other, she talked about what she’d heard from the others. Apparently the battle was over. No casualties, 3 or 4 people still in life threatening condition but there was a high chance all of them would survive. She didn’t know their names. Otherwise there were quite a few minor and major injuries. Dick was the worst of those but apparently all of the Kryptonians were unconscious from Kryptonite poisoning in a yellow sun room across the hall. Yes, all four of them (Jon wasn’t actually supposed to be near the fighting).

Damian had been convinced by Jason to go home with him and get some sleep. Tim was getting his ribs and ankle checked out, Cass was helping in the emergency room by taking down data and prioritising and Bruce was organising the rebuilding effort. Where Kate and Duke were, Steph didn’t know but she’d seen them after the battle when they’d looked into his room. She assumed they’d both gone home but they might also both be helping somewhere. 

Dick liked listening to Steph talk. She was calm and confident but also energetic and actually liked talking. He concentrated on her voice as she started talking about other things like college or how hilariously Tim had fallen during patrol a few days ago. It was sweet that she was sitting here with him instead of going home but she might have been told to wait for a few more hours before doing so. He closed his eyes.

“Do you want me to stop talking? I understand. You must still be pretty tired”, she asked clearly self conscious.

Dick opened his eyes again: “No, no. It’s relaxing. Nice to spend time with you.”

A small but very genuine smile made its way on Steph’s face and she carefully pressed a kiss on his forehead as if he was her little brother and not ten years older than her. Dick closed his eyes as she continued to talk about everything and nothing and soon found himself drifting off once more.

\-------------

“He was awake for about half an hour, earlier”, Dick heard Steph say.

“How long ago?”, Tim’s voice said.

“About two hours ago. He might still sleep for a while. That’s what the nurse said, anyway.”

Tim made a sound to tell Steph that he’d heard her. Dick would say it was genetic but, well, that didn’t work with the family, so maybe it came with the costumes. 

“She also said that at this point if anything bad happened, it would be very surprising.”

There was no sound from Tim this time. Dick carefully tried to open his eyes. When he was actually seeing something, Tim was smiling at him softly.

“How are you feeling?”, he asked. 

Dick tried to shrug but didn’t really manage to move his shoulders. He’d felt so much more awake earlier. 

“Are you feeling weak?”, Steph asked and Dick nodded. “The nurse said they might happen. They started you on some relatively new medication that helps tissue regeneration? There’s apparently nearly no risk associated with it but it can make you tired. The nurse also said to tell her if you get nauseous or feel bad in any other way.”

Tim laughed and Steph shot him an angry look: “I’m sorry, Steph, I swear I’m not laughing at you… It’s just, you said if he feels bad and Dick’s lying here in a hospital for superheroes because he was too close to an exploding bomb.”

Steph grinned lopsidedly: “I guess that wasn’t the best way to say it.”

Dick found himself drifting off while Tim was trying to stop giggling.

\-------------

Dick woke up next when Leslie stepped into his room. Steph was sleeping between two chairs to his left - Dick was starting to wonder why she didn’t go home. He didn’t feel as tired as before. 

“How are you feeling, Dick? I ran across Tim earlier and he said you were feeling some side effects?”, she asked with her calming smile.

Dick nodded: “I feel better now, though.”

“That’s good. Do you want me to tell you what condition you’re in?” Dick could see she already knew the answer and shot her a grin instead of saying something. “The bomb was built to do damage. A lot of shrapnel. Your liver got pierced but otherwise no major organ was hit. You lost a lot of blood and bruised your ribs although that most likely happened earlier. You’ll have to be watched for complications with the liver damage but that’s about it. You were extremely lucky. Is there anything else you want to know?”

“No. Thank you, Leslie.”

“You’re always welcome although I wish all of you wouldn’t need me this often.” She shot a look at Steph looking thoughtful and sad. 

“I know but thank you anyway.”

\--------------------

A hand was combing through Dick’s hair. He made a sound to acknowledge it since he didn’t really feel like opening his eyes right now. The hand withdrew. Dick whined and the hand was back. He smiled and opened one eye. Yep. Bruce. Who else would react so well to nonverbal cues.

“How are you, chum?”, Bruce asked quietly.

“Fine, mostly”, Dick said ignoring the way his throat ached. 

“Do you want some water?”

“I’m being trusted with liquids?”, Dick smirked.

Bruce shot him one of those looks he only got when someone was injured and making fun of it. Like “This is not a laughing matter.” And held a bottle that looked a little bit like it had been made for a baby in front of Dick. After a few sips Dick stopped. He shouldn’t drink too much at once. He’d have some more in a few minutes. 

Dick looked around the room: “Did Steph actually go home?”

Bruce shook his head: “She refused to. Her mother sent her to an empty room for some actual sleep.”

“Is she a nurse here?”, Dick asked. It wasn’t that unlikely. Most personnel that was called on during crises was close to one hero or another. 

“Barbara asked her a year ago whether she would like to be added to the database. She’s in the emergency room.” Bruce’s eyes went to the door for a moment. 

Dick laughed and ignored the stabbing pain in his chest and abdomen: “You can go. I know there’s a lot to do.”

Bruce looked at him with a smile: “I’ll send someone to keep you company.”

\--------------------------

A few minutes later Cass came into his room. Dick was kind of surprised that he hadn’t fallen asleep again but he was feeling more awake. Probably wouldn’t solve any math problems - boy, morphine made him slow - but he was mentally present. 

“All okay, brother?”, Cass asked and sat down next to him.

Dick grinned and shot her a thumbs up, his fist refusing to close completely. 

Cass grinned back although she’d definitely noticed it: “Jay says hello.”

“What’s he doing?”

“Rebuilding.”

Dick hummed. He could see it. Especially since most of the destroyed houses had been in the poorer parts of town. Sometimes when Dick had a quiet night of patrol and he was in Gotham, he went to Crime Alley to watch Jason. It was so sweet how he helped everyone and he usually noticed Dick after about five minutes - Dick was usually just sitting on a rooftop, out of sight but not trying to hide - and threw him an annoyed look. Dick would stay for another ten minutes and if Jason was in a good mood he’d sit down next to him. 

It was the farthest their relationship had gone. They still didn’t get along great and if either of them had a bad day and they met? Well, usually someone ended up being stabbed. Or shot in one instance. It had been Jason angry that day and his anger had seemed to evaporate instantly. Dick hadn’t actually been seriously injured, the bullet had been stopped by the Kevlar but he had limped for a few days since Jason automatically went for the legs these days. Dick was still glad he hadn’t aimed for the kneecap. 

“What are you thinking?”, Cass asked. 

“Jason. He seems to be doing well these days”, Dick answered not quite truthfully.

“Artemis and Bizarro are good for him”, Cass agreed. She looked at Dick: “You seem… too stressed.”

Dick smiled: “I’m fine, Cass. There’s just a lot going on in Blüdhaven.”

“You can ask for help.”

“I know.” Dick was quiet for a moment and felt the smile slide from his face. “I miss the Titans.”

Cass nodded as if it was obvious: “League is idiots.”

Dick laughed and grimaced at his abdomen’s complaint.

“You had… a difficult task. You all”, she made a T with her hands, “show sadness. Decision is not helping anyone. You work well. Would have helped with invasion.”

Dick felt his chin wobble a bit. Cass usually didn’t say that many sentences at once. Only when it was important to her that the other person understood her meaning. 

“Thanks, little sister”, he said and got a kiss pressed on his cheek.

\-----------------

“How are you doing, dumbass?”, a familiar voice tore through his sleep and Dick shot up, gasping for breath through the resulting pain.

“Roy, you’re an idiot”, Wally said.

Hands were put on Dick’s shoulders and he was gently pushed down: “Settle down, Dick. It’s just us.”

Donna’s voice was calming and Dick blinked until his vision cleared. Donna, Roy and Wally were standing around his bed.

“We were told to take a break”, Wally said at Dick’s questioning look. “Apparently they stop you after ten hours. Except if you’re needed desperately like Garth and Lilith.”

Dick laughed quietly at the way Wally looked slightly insulted: “What are they doing?”

“A ship fell into the ocean and they need as many Atlanteans as they can get. There’s also still a few people missing and all telepaths and empaths are searching the area for them.”

Dick hummed in acknowledgement.

Roy, who was standing at the foot of Dick’s bed reading his chart, whistled: “I can’t decide whether I’m impressed by your injuries or the fact that there aren’t more considering you were way too close to a bomb.”

“Roy, we are not being impressed by injuries”, Donna said.

Wally grinned: “Show me.” And quickly plucked the chart out of Roy’s hands.

Dick heard the door open and turned to it. Steph’s head looked through the opening: “Oh, I’ll come back later.”

“You’re welcome to come in now”, Donna said before Dick could say the same.

Steph maneuvered through the door with her crutches and stood awkwardly between the door and the bed.

“Come on, sit down. No point in standing with a broken leg”, Wally said quickly.

God, Dick loved his friends. He didn’t think any of them had met Steph before - although Wally might have. Dick still wasn’t sure whether it was him or Barry who had brought him to the hospital. Dick kind of doubted it because Steph didn’t stay awkward very long once she knew someone.

“Steph, these are Wally, Donna and Roy. Guys, this is Steph”, he said and watched the amused flicker in Donna’s eyes that said she found him hilarious but also sweet. Okay, he knew that they knew who Steph was from his stories and a few pictures. Steph probably didn’t know that, though, and a normal introduction might make her less awkward.

Steph grinned from the chair she’d now settled in: “Pleased to meet you. Did you come to chew him out for being reckless?” 

Roy looked at Dick with a grin that mirrored Steph’s: “Ooh, I like her!”

\--------------------

“You’re still on bed rest”, Leslie said for the fifteenth time. “I wouldn’t even release you if it wasn’t for Alfred.”

Steph was giggling into her arm.

Leslie threw her a glare: “You will be back at my clinic in four days or I will tell your mother about the…”

“Got it, got it”, Steph raised her arms defensively. 

“Can I roll him out of here now?”, Tim asked with what Dick guessed to be a gigantic grin but he couldn’t see because Tim was standing behind his wheelchair.

Leslie nodded.

“I swear I’ll try not to pop my stitches.”

“It’s sentences like that that keep me up at night.”


End file.
